Voicemail box with caller-specific storage folders

ABSTRACT

A method and system are provided for creating and utilizing caller-specific memory locations or folders within a single voicemail box of a telecommunications network-based voicemail system. A subscriber to voicemail services sets up a plurality of caller-specific memory locations or folders within her voicemail box for directing incoming messages to particular folders. Preferably, the folders are specific to particular callers based on the caller directory number or caller ID. The subscriber assigns a given folder with directory numbers of callers known to be associated with that folder. When a call comes in to the voicemail system with a directory number associated with a given folder, the voice message from that call is directed to and saved in the associated folder. If desired, personal identification numbers (PIN) may be assigned to each folder to control access to messages saved therein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and system for providingcaller-specific storage folders within a voicemail box of a voicemailsystem.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In a typical voicemail system, calling parties attempt to reach a calledparty or a subscriber of the functionality of the voicemail system andare directed to the subscriber's voicemail box where a voice message maybe left for the subscriber's subsequent review and use. Often, a numberof voicemail system users have access to a single voicemail box to whichall voicemail messages are left to all users of that voicemail box. Forexample, one voicemail box may be associated with a single telephonedirectory number to which all members of a family or multiple roommatesin an apartment or dormitory receive voicemail messages. If a voicemailmessage is left for one member of the family, but the message is openedand reviewed by another member of the family, the intended recipient ofthe message may not receive the message or know that the message wasleft, and any privacy considerations associated with the message may belost because the message is accessible by others who have access to thesingle voicemail box.

Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for providingcaller-specific folders within a single voicemail box to which voicemessages from specific callers are deposited for subsequent review onlyby the intended recipient of those voice messages. It is with respect tothese and other considerations that the present invention has been made.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a method and systemfor providing caller-specific memory locations or folders within asingle voicemail box of a telecommunications network-based voicemailsystem. A subscriber to voicemail services sets up a plurality ofcaller-specific memory locations or folders within her voicemail boxmaintained at the voicemail system for directing incoming messages toparticular folders. Preferably, the folders are specific to particularcallers based on the caller directory number or caller ID.

The subscriber assigns a given folder with directory numbers of callersknown to be associated with that folder. When a call comes in to thevoicemail system with a directory number associated with a given folder,the voice message from that call is saved in the associated folder. If agiven caller's directory number has not been assigned to a particularfolder, a voice message from that caller is saved to a general voicemailfolder accessible by all users who have access to the single voicemailbox. Once the message from that caller is received and reviewed by oneof the users who have access to the voicemail box, the user has theoption of assigning future messages from that caller to one of thespecific folders based on the directory number of that caller.Additionally, the user may then forward that message to the folder withwhich it has now been associated.

If desired, personal identification numbers (PIN) may be assigned toeach folder to control access to messages saved therein. Embodiments ofthe present invention may be utilized to categorize messages by creatingfolders to which calls from particular categories of callers will besaved. For example, a folder may be set up for all messages from a givensubscriber's medical professionals, such as doctors, dentists,optometrists, and the like. Accordingly, when voice messages are leftfrom any telephone directory number of one of the subscriber's medicalprofessionals where that telephone number has been associated with thatparticular folder, those voice messages will be saved in the appropriatefolder within the single voicemail box.

These and other features and advantages, which characterize the presentinvention, will be apparent from a reading of the following detaileddescription and a review of the associated drawings. It is to beunderstood that both the foregoing general descriptions and thefollowing detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, andare not restrictive of the invention as claimed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram illustrating components of awireline and wireless telecommunications network that provides anoperating environment for the present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates the logical flow of the steps performed by a methodand system of the present invention for creating voicemail folderswithin a single voicemail box and for associating telephone directorynumbers of anticipated callers with those folders according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a logical flow of the steps performed by amethod and system of the present invention for receiving and storingvoice messages to voice message folders contained within a singlemailbox of a voicemail system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description of an embodiment of the present invention ismade with reference to the above-described drawings wherein likenumerals refer to like parts or components throughout the severalfigures. The present invention is directed to a method and system forproviding caller-specific memory locations or folders within in a singlevoicemail box of a voicemail system.

Operating Environment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating components of a wireline andwireless telephone network that provides an exemplary operatingenvironment for the present invention. The public switched telephonenetwork that evolved in the 1980s incorporated the advanced intelligentnetwork (AIN). Some of the components of the advanced intelligentnetwork are illustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is illustrative of at least apart of the advanced intelligent network (AIN) of a typical localexchange carrier integrated with components of a wireless network 150.The advanced intelligent network (AIN) uses the signaling system 7 (SS7)network for signal or system control message transport. The componentsthereof are well known to those skilled in the art. The operation ofmany of the components of the advanced intelligent network is alsodescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,245,719 to Weisser entitled “Mediation ofOpen Advanced Intelligent Network Interface by Shared ExecutionEnvironment” which is incorporated herein by reference. The SS7communications protocol is provided in the document entitled “BellCommunications Research Specification of Signaling System 7,” DocumentTR-NWT-000246, Issue 2 (June 1991), plus Revision 1 (December 1991),which is also incorporated herein by reference.

A plurality of central offices are provided in a typical public switchedtelephone network. As shown in FIG. 1, each central office may includean electronic switch known to those skilled in the art as a serviceswitching point (SSP). These are indicated in FIG. 1 as SSP switches 12and 14. The number of SSP switches depends on the number of subscribersto be served by the public switched telephone network. An SSP is the AINcomponent of a typical electronic central office switch used by a localexchange carrier. The terms “SSP” and “switch” are used interchangeablyhereinafter and are understood to refer to a telecommunications switchhaving AIN capability and which may be utilized for connecting voicechannel circuits, including voice channel lines, such as the trunkcircuit 30.

As shown in FIG. 1, switches (SSP) 12 and 14 have a plurality ofsubscriber lines 18 and 20 connected thereto. Each of the subscriberlines 18 and 20 is connected to a terminating piece or pieces ofcustomer premises equipment that are represented by telephones 21 and24. A computer 23 also is illustrated as connected to the switch 12 viathe subscriber line 18(b). The computer 23 is illustrative of a singleor a plurality of computing and data storage devices. SSP switches 12and 14 are connected by a plurality of trunk circuits 30. These are thevoice path trunks that interconnect the central offices 12 and 14 andover which calls are connected when completed.

Each piece of terminating equipment in the PSTN is preferably assigned adirectory number. The term “directory number” is used herein in a mannerconsistent with its generally understood meaning of a number that isdialed or input by an originating party at an originating station toreach a terminating station associated with the directory number. Adirectory number, typically a ten digit number, is commonly referred toas a “telephone number” and may be assigned to a specific telephoneline, such as the telephone line 18 shown in FIG. 1.

Much of the intelligence, and the basis for many of the enhancedfeatures of the network, resides in the local service control point(SCP) 42 that is connected to signal transfer point 34 via SS7 data link44. As is known to those skilled in the art, service control points,such as the SCP 42, are physically implemented by relatively powerfulfault tolerant computers. Among the functions performed by the servicecontrol points is maintenance of network databases used in providingenhanced services. Service control points, such as SCP 42, normallyimplement high volume routing services, such as call forwarding and 800number translation and routing. They are also used for maintenance ofand providing access to high volume databases for authorization ofbilling, such as credit card number validations. In most local exchangecarrier networks, service control points are only used for data baselook up and routing services that take place prior to the logicalcompletion of the call, i.e., the provision of a ringing signal to thecalled subscriber line and ring back to the calling subscriber.

Additional devices for implementing advanced network functions withinthe AIN are provided by regional STPs (not shown) and regional SCPs (notshown). The STP 34 is connected to the SSPs via connections 36, 38 and40. Both the regional SCPs and the local SCP 42, which represent aplurality of local SCPs distributed throughout the AIN, are connectedvia respective data links to the SMS 46. The SMS 46 provides acentralized platform for remotely programming the various SCPs of theAIN so that a coordinated information processing scheme may beimplemented for the AIN.

The modern Advanced Intelligent Network also includes service nodes (SN)such as the service node 58. Those skilled in the art are familiar withservice nodes, which are physically implemented by the same types ofcomputers that embody the SCP 42. In addition to the computingcapability and data base maintenance features, service nodes 58 use ISDNlines and may include DTMF signal recognition devices, tone generationdevices, text to speech (TTS) voice synthesis devices and other voice ordata resources. As shown in FIG. 1, the connection is through the SSP.For example, SN 55 is connected to SCP 42 via ISDN links 53 to SSP 12,ISDN/SS7 protocol conversion in SSP 12, and SS7 links 38 and 44.According to a preferred embodiment, the ISDN links 53 serve as aprimary rate interface (PRI) over which services may be provided tosubscribers using wireline services such as the wireline telephone sets21 and 24 and subscribers using wireless services such as the wirelessunits 54, 55, 60, and 62.

The voice mail system 65 is shown in FIG. 1 being functionally connectedto the switch 14 and is a component of the network. That is, calls arerouted to and from the voice mail system 65 at the control and directionof the network via such components as the SCP 42. The voice mail system65 may be connected to the switch 14 via a PRI interface line 37 similarto the connection of the service node 58 to the switch 14.Alternatively, the line 37 may operate according to the Internetprotocol (IP). In operation, the voice mail system 65 is treated like aswitch 14 whereby calls directed to voice mail boxes maintained at thevoice mail system 65 are directed to the voice mail system 65 as callsare directed to customer premises equipment, such as telephones, viaswitches 12, 14.

The voice mail system 65 typically includes a computer or collection ofcomputers, recording and recording playback devices, and software forrecording announcements for incoming calls, recording and playing backrecorded messages, and for receiving incoming calls and for makingoutgoing calls at the direction of the network. In addition to therecording and playback functionality, the voice mail system 65 includestext-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-text (STT) synthesis devices andsoftware for conversion of analog voice messages to digitized forms suchas WAV files and MP3 files. The voice mail system 65 has memory capacityfor saving announcements to incoming callers and for saving messagesfrom incoming callers. The computing system of the voice mail system 65also includes an electronic mail server that may send and receiveelectronic mail via the network and the Internet 50.

The Internet 50 is well known to those skilled in the art as essentiallya packet-switched network based on the family of protocols calledTransmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), a family ofnetworking protocols providing communication across interconnectednetworks between computers with diverse hardware architectures andbetween various computer operating systems. Operation of the Internet 50and the TCP/IP transmission protocols is well known to those skilled inthe art.

The server 60 is illustrative of a computing system accessible via adistributed computing environment such as the Internet 50. The server 60may include a computer or collection of computers along with associatedsoftware applications and memory capacity. The server 60 may serve as anInternet web server for maintaining and administering Internet web pagesserving as an access point to the functionality of the present inventionvia the computer 23. For example, a user may use the computer 23 toaccess the functionality of the present invention by accessing anInternet web page maintained at the server 60 and operated by theprovider of the functionality.

The wireless network 150, such as a cellular network, comprises a mobileswitching center (MSC) 52. The MSC 52 is a switch providing services andcoordination between wireless users in the network 150 and externalnetworks. The MSC 52 may be connected to the STP 34 to provideinformation to the wireline network and receive information from thewireline network. The MSC 52 also communicates with a wirelesssubscriber, such as wireless telephones 54 and 55. The wirelesstelephones 54 and 55 are also illustrative of other wireless computingdevices, such as pagers and personal digital assistants.

In operation, the intelligent network elements of the AIN, as describedabove, communicate with each other via digital data messages transmittedover the network of digital data links. An SSP may be configured tointerface with these network elements through the use of a trigger. Atrigger in the network is an event associated with a particularsubscriber line or call that causes the SSP to generate a data packetmessage to be sent to a service control point. In order to keep theprocessing of data and calls as simple and generic as possible atcentral office switches, such as SSP switches 12 and 14, a relativelysmall set of triggers are defined at the SSP switches for each call.

The message created by an SSP in response to the “firing” of a triggeris known as a “query” message. A query message opens a “transaction” andthe SSP generally holds the communication until it receives a reply froman appropriate network element via the network of digital data linksinstructing the SSP 12 to take a certain action. If the SSP 12 receivesno instructions within a certain amount of time, the SSP “times-out” andexecutes a default task for the communication. The reply to the querymessage may be a “conversation” message or a “response” message.Conversation messages allow for bi-directional exchanges between networkelements while the transaction remains open. A “response” message closesthe transaction opened by the query message, and usually instructs theSSP to route the held communication for connection with a terminatingstation. Query messages, conversation messages, and response messagesare standard types of messages defined by the AIN protocol. The detailsof the AIN protocol are well known to those skilled in the art and willnot be further described herein. For more information regarding the AINprotocol, see Bellcore Specification GR-1298-CORE Switching SystemsGeneric Requirements for AIN 0.1, which is incorporated herein byreference.

Operation

Having described an operating environment for the present invention withreference to FIG. 1, FIG. 2 illustrates a logical flow of the stepsperformed by a method and system of the present invention for creatingvoicemail folders within a single voicemail box and for associatingtelephone directory numbers of anticipated callers with those foldersaccording to an embodiment of the present invention. The method 200begins with start step 205 and proceeds to step 210 where the subscriberor called party connects to the voicemail system 65 in order to createfolders within the voicemail box of the subscriber operated through thevoicemail system 65. As should be understood, the subscriber, or calledparty in this case, may be one of a number of authorized users of asingle voicemail box to which voice messages are saved for callsdirected to the telephone directory number of the subscriber or to themultiple users utilizing the single voicemail box associated with thattelephone directory number.

At step 215, a number of prompts may be received by the subscriber fromthe voicemail system 65, such as “To create a subfolder within yourvoicemail box, press 1.” A second prompt may be provided, such as “Entera name for the folder you are creating.” In response to that prompt, thesubscriber may speak a name such as, “Jane's folder,” with which thesubscriber will associate that folder during future use. Alternatively,the subscriber may enter an alpha-numeric code for identifying thefolder, such as “1 2 3 4,” using the subscriber's telephone keypad.

Next, a prompt may be provided to the subscriber such as, “Entertelephone directory numbers you wish to have associated with this folderfollowed by the pound sign.” In response to this prompt, the user maybegin entering the telephone directory numbers of callers whosevoicemail messages she would like directed to the folder she is creatingwithin the single voicemail box. For example, the user may enter thetelephone directory numbers of all of her friends, acquaintances, workassociates, and the like, whose voice messages she would like directedto the specific folder within the voicemail box. At step 225, the callerdirectory numbers are stored in a database at the voicemail system 65 sothat the voicemail system 65 may search the database for callerdirectory numbers in order to direct voicemail messages from particularcallers to associated voice message folders as prescribed by thesubscriber or individual voicemail system user.

As described above, the subscriber may set up other voice messagefolders within the single voicemail box in order to categorize incomingvoice messages into different voice message folders. For example, thesubscriber may set up a voice message folder for all voice messagesassociated with medical professionals, or the subscriber may set up avoice message folder for all calls received from a particular relative.

If the subscriber does not create a caller-specific folder as set forthabove, the subscriber may create a caller-specific folder after amessage is received from a caller from which the subscriber has neverreceived a message before. That is, if the subscriber receives a messagefrom a new acquaintance, the subscriber may then elect to have futuremessages from that new acquaintance saved to a particular voice messagefolder after reviewing the voice message for the first time.

Referring to steps 210 through 225, according to an alternativeembodiment, the subscriber to voicemail services or a particular user ofa given voicemail box may contact the voicemail system and set up thevoice message folders, via an Internet-based web page provided by thetelecommunications service provider of the voicemail system 65. Thesubscriber or user opens the Internet-based web page of the provider ofthe voicemail system 65 at the subscriber's computer 23 via the Internet50 to open the web page maintained at a remote server 60, illustrated inFIG. 1. Once the web page of the voicemail system provider is open, thesubscriber may create a number of voice message folders within a singlevoicemail box. After the subscriber has created the required number offolders, the folders may be named, and a number of telephone directorynumbers of anticipated callers may be associated with given folders sothat future voice messages from those callers will be directed to andsaved in the associated folders within the voicemail box.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate a logical flow of the steps performed by amethod and system of the present invention for receiving and storingvoice messages to voice message folders contained within a single mailbox of a voicemail system according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. The method 300 begins at start step 305 and proceeds to step310 where a call directed to the subscriber's or called party'sdirectory number is received at the subscriber's switch 12. After anindication that the call will not be answered either by the receipt of abusy signal or by an indication of an unanswered call where a prescribednumber of rings has been exceeded, the call is forwarded to thevoicemail system 65 so that the calling party may leave a voice messagefor the subscriber or called party. At step 315, the voicemail system 65receives the call from the calling party over the PRI interface 37between the switch 14 and the voicemail system 65. As is understood bythose skilled in the art, the telephone directory number associated withthe incoming call travels with the incoming call to the voicemail system65.

At step 315, the voicemail system 65 obtains the telephone directorynumber of the incoming call and performs a database search to determinewhether the telephone directory number of the incoming call isassociated with a particular voice message folder associated with thevoicemail box of the subscriber or called party telephone number. Atstep 320, the determination is made as to whether the caller's telephonedirectory number is associated with a voice message folder. If thecaller's telephone directory number is associated with a voice messagefolder within the subscriber's or called party's voicemail box, themethod proceeds to step 325, and the voice message left by the callingparty is saved in the voice message folder associated with the callingparty's telephone directory number. For example, if the calling party isthe brother of the called party, and the called party created a personalvoice message folder to which she associated the telephone directorynumber of her brother, the brother's voice message is deposited into thepersonal voice message folder created by the called party. Now, thesubscriber/user may open her personal voice message folder to hearmessages left by her brother. According to an embodiment of theinvention, the user obtains access to the folder by entering a personalidentification number associated with the folder.

Referring back to step 320, if the telephone directory number of thecalling party is not associated with a particular voice message folderwithin the voicemail box of the called party, the method proceeds tostep 330 and the caller's voicemail message is saved to the generalvoicemail box which may be accessed by all authorized users of thevoicemail box. At step 335, called party A, which may be any user of thesubscriber's voicemail box who is authorized to access messagescontained in the voicemail box, accesses the voicemail system 65 toobtain messages from the subscriber's voicemail box. At step 340, calledparty A accesses the general voicemail box in which voicemail messagesare saved that are not associated with a particular voice message folderwithin the voicemail box. At step 345, a determination is made as towhether the first message opened by called party A was actually directedto called party A. For example, the first message opened by called partyA from the general voicemail box may have been directed to called partyB who may be the roommate of called party A. If the first message openedby called party A was not directed to called party A, the methodproceeds to step 350 and a determination is made as to whether calledparty A desires to forward the message to a voice message folder ofcalled party B who was the intended recipient of the message. If not,the method proceeds to step 385 and other voicemail system optionsincluding saving, deleting, or skipping the message are provided tocalled party A. Called party A may then exit the voicemail system 65 atstep 390 and the method ends at step 395.

If called party A desires to forward the voice message to a voicemessage folder of called party B for whom the message was intended, themethod proceeds to step 355 and called party A may enter a forwardingaddress to forward the message to called party B's voice message folder.As should be understood, when the voice message folders for each calledparty are created, identification numbers may be assigned to each voicemessage folder so that messages may be forwarded to those voice messagefolders by entry of the identification number. Alternatively, at step355, the voicemail system 65 may present the called party A with avariety of options including the option to forward the message to adifferent voice message folder within the voicemail box. For example,the voicemail system 65 may be present a prompt such as, “If you wouldlike to hear a list of voice message folders maintained in thisvoicemail box, press 1,” or “If you know the identification number ofthe voice message folder to which you would like to forward the message,enter the identification number followed by the pound sign.” At step360, the called party A forwards the message to the voice message folderof called party B and the method proceeds to step 385, as describedabove.

Referring back to step 345, if the voice message opened by called partyA was opened from the general voice message folder, and therefore, wasnot saved to a particular voice message folder, the method proceeds tostep 365. At step 365, a determination is made as to whether calledparty A would like to set up a new folder associated with the directorynumber of the calling party or whether called party A would like toassociate the directory number of the calling party with an existingvoice message folder. According to an embodiment of the presentinvention, a series of prompts may be provided to called party A suchas, “Would you like to associate the calling party with an existingvoice message folder within your mail box?”, or “Would you like tocreate a new voice message folder within your voicemail box associatedwith the calling party?”

If called party A would like to set up a new folder or associate thecalling party with an existing folder, the method moves to step 370. Atstep 370, called party A may either enter the name of an existing voicemessage folder or the called party A may select to create a new folder.In response, the voicemail system 65 creates a new memory locationwithin the voicemail box of the subscriber and associates the callingparty's telephone directory number with the new voice message folder.Alternatively, the voicemail system 65 associates the calling party'stelephone directory number with an existing voice message folderselected by the called party A. Accordingly, future voice messages leftby the calling party will be saved in the voice message folderdesignated by the called party A for storing messages from this callingparty.

At step 375, a determination is made as to whether the present voicemessage being reviewed by called party A should be saved to the newlycreated voice message folder or to the existing folder to which thecalling party's telephone directory number has been associated. If so,the method proceeds to step 380, and the message is saved to thedesignated voice mail message folder. If not, the method moves to step385 and the called party is provided with other options, includingsaving the message to a different voice message folder, deleting themessage, skipping the message, and the like. At step 390, the callingparty A exits the voice mail system 65, and the method ends at step 395.

As described, a method and system are provided for creatingcaller-specific memory locations or folders within a single voicemailbox of a voicemail system to which voice messages may be saved based onthe telephone directory numbers associated with calling parties. It willbe apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications andvariations may be made in the present invention without the departingfrom the scope or spirit of the invention. Other embodiments of theinvention will be apparent to those skilled in the art fromconsideration of the specification and practice of the inventiondisclosed herein.

1. A method of storing voicemail messages to caller specific voicemessage folders, comprising: creating a plurality of voice messagefolders for storing voice messages from calling parties; associatingeach of the plurality of voice message folders with a telephonedirectory number of a known calling party; receiving a call from acalling party to a voicemail system containing the plurality of voicemessage folders; at the voicemail system, searching for a voice messagefolder associated with the calling party's telephone directory number;if the voicemail system locates a voice message folder associated withthe calling party's telephone directory number, saving a voice messagefrom the calling party in the voice message folder associated with thecalling party's telephone directory number; and if the voicemail systemdoes not locate a voice message folder associated with the callingparty's telephone directory number; saving the voice message from thecalling party in a general voice message folder, accessing the generalvoice message folder to retrieve a voice message saved therein whereinaccessing the general voice message folder is initiated by a user,determining, based upon input-received from the user, whether to createa specific voice message folder associated with the voice messageretrieved from the general voice message folder, creating a specificvoice message folder associated with the telephone directory numberassociated with the voice message retrieved from the general voicemessage folder, and saving the voice message retrieved from the generalvoice message folder to the specific voice message folder.
 2. The methodof claim 1, further comprising prior to creating the plurality of voicemessage folders, contacting telephonically the voicemail system.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising prior to creating a plurality ofvoice message folders, contacting the voicemail system via aninternet-based web page for accessing the voicemail system.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising entering an identification foreach of the plurality of voice message folders.
 5. The method of claim4, wherein entering the identification for each of the plurality ofvoice message folders comprises entering a name for each of theplurality of voice message folders.
 6. The method of claim 4, whereinentering the identification for each of the plurality of voice messagefolders comprises entering an alpha-numeric identification code for eachof the plurality of voice message folders.
 7. The method of claim 1,further comprising saving the telephone directory number and associatedvoice message folder identifications at the voicemail system.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising associating a personalidentification number (PIN) with each of the plurality of voice messagefolders for accessing each of the plurality of voice message folders. 9.The method of claim 4, further comprising: accessing the general voicemessage folder to retrieve a voice message saved therein; determiningwhether the voice message saved therein should be saved to one of theplurality of voice message folders; if the voice message saved thereinshould be saved to one of the plurality of voice message folders,designating the one of the plurality of voice message folders for savingthe voice message saved therein; and saving the voice message savedtherein to the designated voice message folder.
 10. The method of claim9, wherein designating the one of the plurality of voice message folderscomprises entering at the voicemail system the identification associatedwith the designated voice message folder.
 11. The method of claim 9,wherein if the voice message should not be saved to one of the pluralityof voice message folders: determining whether the voice message shouldbe forwarded to a voice message folder of a different called party; ifthe voice message should be forwarded to a different called party,entering at the voicemail system, a voice message folder identificationassociated with the different called party; and forwarding the voicemessage to the voice message folder of the different called party. 12.The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior to saving the voicemessage retrieved from the general voice message folder to the specificvoice message folder, saving the telephone directory number and anassociated voice message folder identification for the specific voicemessage folder at the voicemail system.
 13. The method of claim 8,further comprising, after saving a voice message from the calling partyin the voice message folder associated with the calling party'stelephone directory number, accessing the voice message folderassociated with the calling party's telephone directory number to reviewthe voice message from the calling party.
 14. The method of claim 13,further comprising, prior to accessing the voice message folderassociated with the calling party's telephone directory number enteringa personal identification number associated with the voice messagefolder associated with the calling party's telephone directory number toobtain access to the voice message folder associated with the callingparty's telephone directory number.
 15. The method of claim 1, whereinaccessing the general voice message folder to retrieve the voice messagesaved therein wherein accessing the general voice message folder isinitiated by the user further comprises accessing the general voicemessage folder to retrieve the voice message saved therein whereinaccessing the general voice message folder is initiated by the usercomprises at least one of the following: a person corresponding to atelephone number the call is directed to and a voicemail servicesubscriber.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein creating the plurality ofvoice message folders further comprises creating the plurality of voicemessage folders using input from the user.
 17. A system for storingvoicemail messages to caller specific voice message folders, comprising:a voicemail system operative to: create a plurality of voice messagefolders for storing voice messages from calling parties; associate eachof the plurality of voice message folders with a telephone directorynumber of a known calling party; retrieve a call from a calling party ofa voicemail system containing the plurality of voice message folders;search for a voice message folder associated with the calling party'stelephone directory number; save a voice message from the calling partyin the voice message folder associated with the calling party'stelephone directory number if the voicemail system locates a voicemessage folder associated with the calling party's telephone directorynumber; save the voice message from the calling party in a general voicemessage folder, if the voicemail system does not locate the voicemessage folder associated with the calling party's telephone directorynumber; access the general voice message folder to retrieve a voicemessage saved therein, if the voicemail system does not locate the voicemessage folder associated with the calling party's telephone directorynumber wherein accessing the general voice message folder is initiatedby a user; determine, based upon input received from the user, whetherto create a specific voice message folder associated with the voicemessage retrieved from the general voice message folder, if thevoicemail system does not locate the voice message folder associatedwith the calling party's telephone directory number; create a specificvoice message folder associated with the telephone directory numberassociated with the voice message retrieved from the general voicemessage folder, if the voicemail system does not locate the voicemessage folder associated with the calling party's telephone directorynumber; and save the voice message retrieved from the general voicemessage folder to the specific voice message folder, if the voicemailsystem does not locate the voice message folder associated with thecalling party's telephone directory number.
 18. The system of claim 17,wherein the voicemail system is further operative to: allow access to ageneral voice message folder to retrieve a voice message saved therein;receive a designation of one of the plurality of voice message foldersfor saving the voice message if the voice message should be saved to oneof the plurality of voice message folders; and save the voice message tothe designated voice message folder.
 19. The system of claim 17, whereinif the voice message should not be saved to one of the plurality ofvoice message folders, the voicemail system is further operative to:retrieve a voice message folder identification associated with adifferent called party if the voice message should be forwarded to thedifferent called party; and forward the voice message to the voicemessage folder of the different called party.
 20. The system of claim17, wherein the voicemail system is further operative to: allow accessto a general voice message folder to retrieve a voice message savedtherein; create a specific voice message folder associated with thetelephone directory number associated with the voice message retrievedfrom the general voice message folder; and save the voice messageretrieved from the general voice message folder to the specific voicemessage folder.